The Gift of Obedience
by EvilGu
Summary: The gift given to Hermione was really more of a curse. She couldn't let anyone know, or it could all be used against her...but what about when Draco Malfoy finds out her greatest weakness? Hermione is completely under his power, and can see no way out...
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Yes, the idea for this fic is derived from watching "Ella Enchanted." However, the very basic idea is where the similarities will end. In fact, if you don't know what Ella Enchanted is, then all the better! Really, don't worry about it. I hope everyone enjoys this idea. .

The Gift of Obedience

Chapter 1

"Fairy gifts?" Hermione questioned.

Ginny nodded, shoving a large forkful of pumpkin pie into her mouth. "Book smart Hermione doesn't know? Come on, everyone knows that!"

Hermione frowned. She didn't particularly like her intelligence being insulted. Ginny's eyes grew wide. "Are you seriously insulted? I'm sorry, Hermione! I was just kidding!" She laughed. "I guess it's the kind of thing those raised in the magical world just kinda…know about, you know? It's not really studied in school or talked about too much…it's just kinda a common-sense thing."

Once again Hermione felt like she was being insulted, but she let the feeling brush past. She was much more curious than anything else. "And what exactly is a fairy gift?"

"Well," Ginny said, cocking her head to one side and looking up at the enchanted ceiling. It was cloudy out, today. "I suppose it can be just about anything. Not everyone get's one. It's kinda luck-of-the-draw. But for some witches, on their seventeenth birthday, they're granted a special gift."

"Like sleeping beauty?" Hermione asked.

"What's sleeping beauty?"

Hermione smiled. Now who's out of the loop? "Nothing, nevermind. So your saying a fairy, and not the bite-y kind, just sorta pops up and gives you some sort of magical power? I mean, something unique and not related to wand magic?"

"That's the gist of it." Her redheaded friend said, polishing off the last of her dessert.

***

Such a quick and innocent conversation over dinner, and yet Hermione wished she had taken it as a warning rather than as a cute story. Maybe if she had seen the dangerous implications of a fairy's "gift," then she would have seen that it could also be a curse. Not a cute, funny curse like bat bogeys…no, a fairy's gift could ruin one's life. Hermione Granger found this out the very hardest way the night of her seventeenth birthday.

She sighed. Being lost in self pity wasn't going to help her situation now, though. She would make the best of it. And by that she meant she would never, ever let anyone find out her closest secret. For two months now she had managed to keep the Fairy's awful gift a secret, and she only hoped she could continue to do so.

"And who can tell me the seven uses of Bracklesap?" Professor Snape drawled on, his voice dripping with a condescending attitude. Hermione knew this one! She raised her hand quickly and almost instinctively. Snape sneered, and looked as though he would like nothing more than to ignore her. However, as no one else in the class seemed to know the answer, he finally gave up and called on her.

"Mrs. Granger, ever eager, are we? Let's hear it."

Hermione quickly and concisely answered the question. It was almost word for word the same as the textbook, and she felt quite proud of her ability to retain so much complicated information. There was nothing she was better at than memorization of useful information.

Snape sneered. "Correct. Once again, Mrs. Granger, congratulate yourself on being an insufferable know-it all."

"Congratulations, Hermione, on being an insufferable know-it-all." She said instantly, then quickly slapped a hand over her mouth.

The class was silent for a moment, then burst into somewhat nervous laughter, all eyes turning to Professor Snape. No one was quite sure what to make of it…she was insulting herself? Or was this somehow supposed to be a dig at Snape?

Draco turned around in his seat. It skipped Hermione's notice, but he was the only one not laughing. He just looked confused and deep in thought.

Snape stared blankly, and his lips curled up into a less-than-pleasant smirk. "I see we think we are very funny today, Mrs. Granger. 50 points from Gryffindor."

Hermione let her head fall to her desk and hid behind her arms for as long as she could after that.

***

"Are you feeling ok?" Harry asked, plopping down next to her at dinner. Ron flashed a concerned look in their direction as he unceremoniously shoved food into his mouth.

Hermione sighed. Her best friends…she should really tell them, shouldn't she? She trusted them, but it was too embarrassing…If she told them, then what would they think of her? She valued their respect for her intelligence and wandwork, and this curse just made her into someone…pitiable. She didn't want them to pity her, and didn't want them to become over-protective. If their attitude towards her suddenly changed, then it might tip off others as to what was going on, too. And that could be very, very dangerous.

She nodded in reply to Harry, and picked at her plate. It wasn't like today was the first time her curse had affected her…it was just the most noticeable and embarrassing.

"Hermione, pass me the salt, would ya?" Ron asked from across the table without really looking up. He didn't realize that the salt was nowhere near her, and he most certainly didn't realize the damage his request would inflict. As if pulled by invisible strings Hermione flung her body up off the bench, walked down the table to the nearest salt shaker, ripped it from the hands of Neville (who was shaking it over his roast) and brought it back to Ron. Neville, from several feet down, was giving her a very surprised and confused look. Ron hesitantly grabbed the salt from Hermione's hand, his brow furrowed. "Uh, thanks…your not mad at me or anything, are you Hermione?" He asked, clearly thinking her quick movements were an exaggeration of her frustration at his request.

"No." She said in a less-than-convincing angry tone. Ron, no doubt, would be wondering all night what he had done today to piss her off. Really, she was just angry with herself.

***

She miraculously managed to avoid any more horrendously embarrassing scenes for almost a month after that crappy, crappy day. Oh, there was the occasional unfortunate phrasing of her friends now and then, asking her to do this or that…but really, nothing too noticeable. And Christmas break was coming up soon…at her own home, away from students and professors who could ask her to do anything at a moments notice, she would be safe.

Or so she had thought.

"I'll be staying here with Harry this year!" Ron declared. "Family's off on to visit Charlie again; it's been awhile."

"It's been awhile since we had a Christmas break here at the school." Harry conceded. "It should be fun. A school basically to ourselves, with virtually no Slytherins! Sounds perfect to me!"

Hermione smiled and nodded. When they had first met Harry, he had no desire to ever return home. Hermione, loving her family very much, hadn't really understood. She had always thought that it couldn't possibly be as bad as all that. Over the years, however, her and Ron came to know just how terrible Harry's time at the Dursley's really was. The Weasley's were like a second family to him, and so he generally spent Christmas with them.

And being seventeen now, he never had to go back to that awful childhood home again.

"Hermione…" Ron started, turning to her.

"Hmm?" She asked, lost in her happy feelings for her friend. Meaning that she was completely caught off guard when Ron asked what she really wished he didn't.

"Come on, stay with us here! Then all three of us can have free run of the school! We're kinda like a trio, you know?"

Hermione's genuine smile grew cold and forced, and the light melted from her eyes. Why? Why did he have to phrase it _like that_!? Couldn't he have asked "do you want to stay here" or something? No. He had phrased it, completely on accident, as a command.

And so Hermione was left with no choice in the matter. She gulped and nodded, trying not to look as crestfallen as she felt. "Sure." She gasped out. Crap. She could feel her throat constricting with tears. She missed her parents, and they had planned to go skiing…but not anymore. She couldn't cry! Poor Ron didn't do anything wrong; he didn't mean it! He didn't even know… "I'd love to stay with your two! Hey, it's our last break of our last year here, right? Why not!"

None-the-less, both Harry and Ron exchanged worried glances. Harry looked her way and met her eyes. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." She managed, and the boys both shrugged.

If only they knew. But even still, she wasn't willing to tell them. Perhaps if she had, things wouldn't have escalated. Perhaps if she had just told them about the curse the fairy had placed on her, they would have helped her and protected her and made sure she could go see her parents for break.

If only she had told them that she had been given the "Gift of Obedience."

***

A/N: I will be focusing on finishing Lonely Portrait. I'll try updating this now and then, but it won't be a top priority.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was the night of her seventeenth birthday, and she was exhausted. Having a birthday so soon after school started, people tended to not really plan anything. There wasn't really time for her friends to do anything like a party. But this year, Ginny had been amazing! She had somehow rounded up supplies for the common room in a very Fred and George-ish fashion, baked a cake (she had assured Hermione that it was made by her and not by house elves), and gotten everyone to participate in the party.

Several butterbeer's and a night of dancing later, and Hermione was extremely tired. She offered to help clean up, but Ginny waved her away. "It's your birthday! Go on and get some sleep! Don't worry, I plan on putting the boys to work." She said with a wink. Ron and Harry groaned.

Hermione fell into her bed heavily. There was no one else up in the common room yet, and the silence was welcome. But just as she was beginning to drift into sleep she heard a rather loud, obnoxious voice.

"Well, sleeping already?! Come on, I know I'm a bit late, but it's still _technically_ your birthday, right?"

Hermione jumped up, staring at the figure in front of her with her jaw dropped open.

This was not at all what she had expected. Ok, first off, she hadn't expected anything. She had assumed that Ginny must be kidding. Wouldn't she have heard about Fairy gifts if they were true? But even then, supposing she had taken Ginny seriously, she hadn't expected this.

No, this was no tiny fairy. This wasn't anything like a doxy, either, and actually very closely resembled a human. She was perhaps half of Hermione's height, but built completely proportional. Proportional, but somehow frail and thin, like a runway model. And she, honest to god, was wearing a fluffy pink dress and carrying a wand with a big gaudy star stuck on top of it.

She looked like a birthday cake, which Hermione guessed was appropriate.

"Oh, don't act so surprised! The one best girl-friend of the boy-who-lived…you didn't think you'd get approved for a gift? Granted, Sheron was supposed to be the one giving you a gift, but she had the flu…so…tada! You get Karen! And my gifts are the damn best, if I do say so myself!" She struck a pose, her arms wide as if expecting applause.

Hermione wanted to ask how she knew about Harry, who got to "approve" gifts, and how these fairies had escaped notice in her magical creatures textbook. However, she was having real trouble forming any words.

Karen frowned, turning back to look at Hermione. "Oh, you're a quiet one, then? Huh." She shook her head and clapped her hands together. "Oh, well. Anyways, I've got a very special gift saved up that I've been _dying_ to use! Are you ready? Of course you are! Oh, it's sooo good! I wish I was you!" Karen looked so excited, jumping up and down.

And without further preamble she pointed her small ridiculous wand at Hermione. "I give you the Gift of Obedience."

***

Hermione hadn't been able to get a word in after that. She had tried as hard as she could to nicely ask the fairy to change her gift, but the fairy had waved away her complaints.

"Oh, what do you mean? Do you think you're not worthy of such an amazing, perfect, well thought-out gift? Of course you are sweety! You're a headrunner in the fight against you-know-who! And nothing makes a better soldier for the side of good than obedience!" And with that, she had disappeared.

Hermione sat staring into the fire, reliving that awful night. It was Christmas break, and she decided that at the very least she could get ahead in some readings. But honestly, today she was feeling restless. Nothing on the page in front of her soaked into her head, and she finally decided to just give up and go for a walk.

She headed out of the common room and through the twisting hallways and moving staircases of Hogwarts. Her ultimate goal was to head to her favorite place to sit and think; the library. Any normal girl might have gone to the lake or walk the grounds, but Hermione liked the musty smell of the books much better.

However, yards away from her goal she turned a corner to meet up with the last person she wanted to see, and the last person she would have expected.

Draco Malfoy.

'He's here!?' she thought frantically. 'I thought most Slytherins went home for the holidays to their sickeningly rich snobby families?'

She moved quickly to the side to avoid smacking into him head on, but had managed to shove him slightly with her shoulder in the process. He jumped back away from her as if he had been burned, a disgusted look on his face.

"Ugh, watch it Granger!" He yelled, and Hermione couldn't help but look around frantically to find out what "it" was so she could watch it. Seeing nothing, her magically compelled body calmed down. "Don't ever touch me, filthy mudblood." He muttered as he walked away, shooting her once last look of contempt.

That was one order Hermione would be _glad_ to comply with.

***

"So this is where you've been hiding?" Harry asked, Ron in tow. The two of them found her in the library, browsing some of her favorite light reading books. Ok, so most people wouldn't call the large tomes in front of her "light reading," but for Hermione it was very relaxing.

"Oh, I didn't realize it was so late! Sorry, didn't mean to hole myself up here all day."

"Come on, I'm hungry!" Ron whined, and the three made their way to the Great Hall for dinner. Though it was several days from Christmas, the meals seemed to be getting steadily better in preparation for the holiday.

Hermione glanced over the room, and sure enough there was Malfoy in among the sparse number of remaining students. Hermione fumed. She shouldn't be forced to spend her holiday around that jerk; she should be home right now, free from his insults.

Ginny was seated in their usual space, already eating. She waved as they came nearer.

"Hermione! Yay! I'm so glad you stayed; I was worried none of my friends would be here!"

"And what are we, exactly?" Harry asked jokingly.

"Boys. Well, one boy and one annoying older sibling." She answered simply, grinning. "So," she said, turning excitedly to Hermione. "I need to do some last minute shopping. Wanna pop down to Hogsmead with me? We're free to go there tomorrow…"

"Well, I don't know…"

"Please?" Ginny asked, giving her a pouty look.

She sighed. At least she wasn't _forced_ to go. "Sure, I guess I could pick up some things, too."

Ginny looked pleased, and turned back to her dessert. Hermione chanced a second glance across the room, and was startled to find Malfoy staring at her. Their eyes met for brief moment, and Hermione shivered. There was something terrifying in the way he was looking at her, as if he were studying her every move…

***

A/N: OK, so since Lonely Portrait went on so long I decided that I should set limits on my stories from now on so I don't go overboard. (LP was over 100,000 words!) This fic, I am determined, will not reach more than 40k words.

Please review and let me know if there's any funny situation you can think of for Hermione (Cause there's TONS of possibilities) and let me know how you're all liking the story so far! :heart: (Rubs hands together and wickedly thinks about all the possibilities for our dear Hermione)


End file.
